Due to recent new regulations placed upon entry into the country by the Filipino government, Valve has decided to pull their official support of the Galaxy Battles 2018 DOTA 2 major. However while that tournament is up in the air thanks to the loss of this designation, Valve is working on a similar tournament to run with the already invited teams.
While careful to make sure that they left no room for misinterpretation of the decision as a reflection against the country itself, Valve left a statement on the DOTA 2 blog outlining that the decision was made because they feel the entry regulations pose an unreasonable invasion of privacy on the players. They also outline that they’re working on a replacement event with the tournament organizers which would be where the invited teams can earn the pro circuit points originally set for Galaxy Battles 2018.
The entry requirements for athletes, which can be found on the government website here, ask for numerous items, most invasive of which that applies to Esports athletes is a drug test and an X-ray. The new rules might be part of the government trying to crack down on the country’s drug problems.